Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. … This is the man that I want myself to be but who cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him. And to be unknown of God is altogether too much privacy.

My illusory person looks different every day I’m alive. I’m seeing it more though (even now) thanks to meditation and prayer about the shadow missions Mark preach on in 2017. (If you missed that series ‘Shadow Missions,’ do yourself a favor and listen to those podcasts on the church site.)

The notion that we can live our entire lives just skewed from the trajectory God maps for us. Even if it’s just 10% off course, it’s still not the match needed.

Living a life parallel to (but not overlapping) God’s intended course keeps me up at night. I want to be mirroring that Divine intention.

Since we only get this one life to mirror Him, it makes sense for us to pray that it lines up (failures and all).

Failures in His is will is far superior to a life of good intentions, good gestures.

As Sunday School teachers used to say to me growing up, hell is paved with good intentions.

It’s tough instruction at a young age maybe, but the truth is still there.

Our strengths are not on the same level as Christ’s, not even close.

When he has scripture in Jeremiah stating, “I know the plan I have for you…” it’s best to take note and pray for those plans.

Just the term, “illusory person” … “false self” is something that snaps our attention back to reality. God doesn’t want us to become this, nor does he want us to want this. It takes a reshaping of our entire wills for this false self to be driven away. Things that may (or may not) hurt us if we cling to them as idols.

God wants all of us to be out in the open, not hiding in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day.

He created us, and it’s a relationship that is far better with everything visible and shapeable for the future. How else can honesty and trust be established?

Brian L. Tucker
Author